Halloween weekend is
the only time of year during which you can choose between two -- yes,
two -- Poison cover shows. Check out the local rock fare this weekend
as Boston bands strap on their best imitation gear and pay homage to
the greats in venues across the city, from The Talking Heads to Black
Sabbath to Rammstein and back again.

Talking to Dougy Mandagi over a crackling
connection between our office and his cell as he ambles along the
streets of lower Manhattan, one might easily mistake him for just
another 20-something Australian hipster-kid. He's definitely not.

He's
the lead singer of latest It-band the Temper Trap, and Mandagi's
distinctive vocals are arguably the band’s strongest asset.

No secret here: Google and YouTube, arguably the two most powerful entities on the web, are way, way behind in the live-streaming video space. While they've lagged, UStream and Livestream -- to name just two companies in a rapidly-evolving niche industry -- have made live broadcasting an everyday part of most bands' digital arsenal.

So far, October has been a great month for me to live out my adolescent
fantasies: In the span of one weekend, I not only got to shake
Leatherface's hand, but also to see Type O Negative singing "Love You to Death" from five feet away. (Thank you, Rock & Shock all-access press pass.

We were surprised to learn that JULIANA HATFIELD has completed a new album called Peace and Love, which she produced, performed and recorded entirely on her own on an eight-track in her Cambridge apartment.

We were even more surprised, however, to learn that the liner notes to Peace and Love were written by "Boston Phoenix music editor James Parker."

It's hard to say what in particular cast such a giddy glow
over New England Conservatory's "Generations of Jazz" show at Scullers on
Wednesday night. Maybe it was semi-matching cardigans worn by openers Lake Street
Dive (green, pink, and GoodFellas
canary yellow). Or the stories the former students told about writing some of
their smart, funny songs as NEC assignments.

For our second installment of Homework -- our still-shiny-new monthly series of brand new songs by local artists, produced under unreasonable deadlines and irrational guidelines -- we looked to October itself for inspiration, and tapped the wuvable Lowell-rap phenom D-Tension for the goods.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, at the Middle East in September 2009

Bad luck for indie-pop band the Pains of Being Pure at Heart: they drove up from New York for a concert in Southie on Sunday night, only to be greeted by a lackluster turnout, most likely due to the wet snow that soaked a city still moaning about how it didn’t get a summer.

Berklee-schooled Boston rap vet Edan might be second to Doom when it comes to hip-hop reclusivity (new word!). Like Metal Face, he surfaces with infinitely inspired projects whenever the hell he feels like it. A few hundred fans were fortunate enough to dine with Edan this past Thursday at the Good Life, where he previewed his latest project, Echo Party, which drops on Five Day Weekend this November 17.

We'll have photos and review of Paramore's sold-out House of Blues show tomorrow. For now, here's their one quiet moment: the gentle folk song from Brand New Eyes, performed pretty much the way it appears on the album.

Also, if anyone has video of @YELYAHWiLLiAMS covering Chaka Khan, get at us.

And then there's that other guy. Kanye West went to see Where the Wild Things Are this weekend and went, "Damn, that's awesome. I should totally leak that fucked-up unreleased 11-minute short film I did with Spike Jonze."